There are many uses for maps, and maps may be articulated for many purposes. They may be used for instructional games, in the form of jig-saw puzzles, for example, that have separate states cut out so that the student can learn where each state fits with relation to other states and to the overall country. Such a device is seen, for example, in the geographical game of Kreitler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,199,499, filed May 7, 1940.
Devices for providing an individual record of travel on a given map are well known. One of the most common is the use of a grease pencil or marker on a suitably-coated surface of a map. However, these markers require a steady hand, and are, at best, not particularly neat. Also, they do not emphasize the states, as such, nor draw attention to their historical or economical value to the country, or their significance in a given travel itinerary.
Other types of devices, such as stickers, or decalcomanias, are usually available at various points along a journey, to be acquired and displayed on car windows, for example, to indicate the various states or cities that are visited. These are colorful, but suggest no logical interconnection nor geographical context and are usually too space-consuming to cover a very extensive trip.
Still another display device for travelers is the "Display Map Device for Indicating the Extent of Travels of a Motorist" of Bradford Williams Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,913, issued Nov. 26, 1974. This uses a first, transparent sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing that is stuck onto the window of a car with an outline map of a given area. A second, opaque sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing has an articulated map, identical to the outline map of the transparent sheet. This articulated sheet is applied to the transparent sheet with the maps superimposed.
The display is altered by removing a given, articulated element of the second, opaque sheet, and substituting a corresponding element from a third, articulated sheet with still another pressure-sensitive backing. The second opaque sheet may be neutrally colored, and the elements of the third sheet may be distinctively colored to draw attention to the particular state or portion of the map.
However, this device requires a transparent material, that must limit the possible materials and strength of the base layer, as well as posing special problems in printing the outline. This also requires an extra, pressure-sensitive layer beneath the transparent layer, with an extra sheet of protective material for the exposed adhesive prior to use, as well as the pressure-sensitive, adhesive-backed elements of the second opaque layer.
Most inconvenient is the necessity of having the additional element of the third sheet to be added. These must be separately provided, or obtained, and must be separately stored at some non-contiguous place. Last, but not least, the individual pieces of the second, opaque layer for a state like Rhode Island would be very difficult to remove from the first transparent sheet, and it would be almost beyond average skill to substitute the new element of the third sheet in a neat register.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a "Go & Show" (TM) display map to permanently record the areas visited in an orderly, state-by-state sequence; that is relatively easy to use; that has a minimum number of layers; and that can be moved from place to place for study or display, or can be interchanged with other similar displays.